reine du soleil et roi de la nuit
by SDNXII
Summary: Basic retelling of beauty and the beast Also posted on A03
1. Chapter 1

Life was peaceful in East Blue village. The people were happy, free and just living life quietly.

"Ace! Look the butcher is having a sale on grouse!"

"Really?! Then what are you waiting for, let's go!"

Well, as peaceful as it could be with the two brothers Luffy and Ace living there. They didn't really fit in with the soft atmosphere, they were always loud and up to stupid pranks with members of the village.

Outcasts, pariahs, two sore thumbs in a crowd. The villagers called them anything that matched up with their personalities, most of the time crude language followed after.

Though the duo didn't care, they were just as free as the villagers were. They lived life differently, for example, Ace was an inventor. He never used to be, but after the accident a few years ago, he took up the position. Nobody said a bad word about that, but they wished that Ace would stop causing such a ruckus at night with failed experiments.

Mainly fiery ones that woke up the men of the village at night to put out the fires.

"Hey ace! Can we go see the pirates at the docks today?"

"Sure thing! You really like that Shanks huh?"

"Mhmm!"

Another thing about them that was genuinely disliked by all citizens. They adored the pirates that constantly visited the neighboring port city, Grand Line. Sure the pirates technically didn't bother them, but having them so close to home was worrisome.

The villagers never said a thing to them, they just thought and gossiped such words about them.

"Shishishi, Yassop is so cool! Did you see his pistol he brought from the New world? It's super awesome!"

Luffy was riding on Aces shoulders, recounting their visit with the red haired pirates. Ace grinned and shook his head.

"I was there Luffy, of course I seen it he let me hold it remember?"

Luffy pursed his lips and hummed.

"Oh yeah, that's right. That's not fair though he didn't even let me go near it!"

Ace chuckled and bumped Luffy up to get him in a comfortable position again.

"Pssh, you would've killed someone!"

"Nu-uh, I would have been really careful!" Luffy pouted and leaned his chin on Aces head.

"Uh-huh yeah, right." Ace said sarcastically.

"Would too!"

The brothers bickered the entire way, Ace ended up letting Luffy drop to the ground when he finally managed to get on his nerves. The younger boy got revenge by tripping the older over a fallen log in the bush trail they followed.

Once at home, Ace dug the grouses he prepared a few hours ago out of their icebox. Then he grabbed his invention, which he called the fire-fist, and aimed his palm at the bundle of wood in the hearth. Just one roll of his wrist and the contraption ignited, setting the logs alight without much trouble.

"Hey! I think I finally managed to get this thing right."

Ace marvelled at his hand for a bit. He took too long for Luffys liking, so the younger took charge and yanked the birds from his brothers hand and tossed them into the cast iron pot.

"Luffy, you're supposed to wait for the water to boil! I didn't even put the water in yet!"

Luffy shrugged, which earned him a punishment, tending to their horse Thousand Sunny. It was a name Luffy came up with, just like he named their goat Going Merry.

Tending to animals was the worst thing ever in Luffys opinion, they needed to be brushed, fed and groomed. The boy hated the last one, Thousand Sunny always kicked him away and trotted off to the open field behind their home, which meant he had to chase the horse and round him up.

"Get. Over. Here!"

Luffy launched himself at thousand sunny with a battle cry when Ace popped his head out of the side window.

"Dinner is ready!"

Thousand sunny looked at luffy, who looked back at the horse as well. They mentally agreed on a truce and walked back to the small cottage.

In the distance, a pair of eyes glinted with mischief. The blonde man smirked and leaned over to his redheaded friend.

"There he goes. Interesting isn't he?"

The red head grunted and crossed his arms.

"The little runt barely looks his age, why are you so taken with him?"

The blonde man looked at his reflection in the window of a bakery and licked at a speck of meat on his teeth.

"Eustass, may I remind you that I am the greatest looking hunter in this town. I deserve the greatest looking lover don't I?"

Eustass rolled his eyes and huffed.

"I'll never understand you, you creep."

The blonde man laughed, a loud boisterous one that screamed obnoxious.

"Come Eustass, it's the day I Bellmay win the hand of that Monkey idiot."

The redhead frowned but followed his friend anyways. He held some respect for Luffy, the kid was fearless and if he had to be honest, quiet pretty in a feminine way. His soft skin and face were envied by all women of the village, even Boa Hancock, the aristocrat that lived a few villages away. She ended up being wooed by the young man but was immediately shot down when Luffy said he didn't fancy women. Yet another reason the villagers were wary of him, openly declaring his taboo sexuality was a sure way to be shunned.

Except for Bellamy, he was a charismatic man who could get away with just about anything and everything. If he wanted to marry a man, then who was to object that?

Eustass stopped his nonsensical thinking when his leader rapped on the old wooden door. They waited a few moments when Luffy opened the door with his cheeks puffed out and pieces of meat sticking to his face.

"Oh! Ich you freachs." The boy said.

Bellamy flicked away the pieces of meat that reached him while Eustass grimaced.

"Charming." The redhead said to his friend.

Bellamy sneered at him which made him instantly stop with the remarks. If there was anything he feared more, it was an angry lunatic that couldn't be rivaled with his sharp shooting. Eustass could fight, but he was mainly bulked up because he was the town blacksmith, and no man could take a bullet in the heart and live.

"Monkey D. Luffy, as cute as ever I see." Bellamy returned to his slimy self and leaned on the threshold, lowering his face down to the ravenette. Luffy gave him a blank look and let his gaze flicker to Eustass.

"Luffy! Who's at the door?" Ace shouted from somewhere in the house, his voice getting closer with each word.

His freckled face appeared, looking friendly at first until he seen just who it was.

"Oh, it's you."

Ace held onto Luffys shoulders, showing his protectiveness for the boy. He didn't trust the man one bit, he heard of how he snapped at the littlest of things.

"Don't be so hostile Ace, I come baring good news."

The elder brother raised a skeptical brow, pulling Luffy back a bit away from the door. Luffy looked up at his brother and let go of the door handle.

"What do you want."

Bellamy smirked and looked down at his object of twisted affections, he licked his lips before saying,

"I've decided to take your brothers hand in marriage."

Ace bared his teeth and pushed Luffy behind him, the boy was asking what he meant and what was going on, but Ace didn't answer him. His sole focus was on Bellamy, he was cast in a red light as anger flared through his body.

"No. Fucking. Way." Then without waiting to hear what Bellamy would say, he slammed the door and yanked Luffy away from it too.

"I'll let you think it over again Ace! I'll be back for the answer in 2 days!" Bellamy's muffled voice shouted through the door with a swift kick following behind.

When the shadows blocking the door finally vanished, Ace declared it safe to speak to Luffy now.

"Listen, that man is a lunatic, don't ever go near him alright?"

Luffy thought about it for awhile and decided to listen to Ace, he was the smarter of the two afterall.

"Okay, but what's marriage? Is that like a death duel or something?"

Ace snorted, he was truly thankful that Luffy remained this innocent for so long. Even after they lost everything on that fateful day, he still smiled his brightest for everyone to see. Nothing would ever break that spirit of his.

"Well, what is it? C'mon Ace you gotta tell me! Or I'll keep asking!"

The elder brother shook his head to wake himself up from his momentary daze and smiled down at Luffy.

"Marriage is kinda like an agreement, but you have to do it with a priest around and wear fancy clothes. They also have a feast after that and party for days on end." Ace explained with a wide smile, it quickly fell however when Luffy opened his mouth.

"Then why can't I do marriage with Bellamy? Thay sounds pretty fun."

Ace clenched his fists and grit his teeth.

"Because." He seethed out. "That man doesn't love you, he wants to use you. Marriage needs love to work Luffy, and Bellamy doesn't know the meaning of it."

Luffy nodded in understanding and dropped the subject. Ace looked at Luffy with sad eyes and sighed.

"I thought disguising you to look like a boy would make everyone back off."

"But I'm not a boy.. " Luffy started but Ace quickly cut him off.

"Just, pretend a little longer until we can make enough money to move. Promise me something though, that you'll marry for love, okay?"

"Okay."

While Luffy went to bed a few hours ago, Ace snuck off to the cellar to tinker with his fire fist gauntlet. It just needed a few more things to pretty it up then he could set off with Luffy as soon as possible to Edward Newgates inventor symposium. It was happening next week but he needed to get out of the town right away, Bellamy wasn't someone Ace needed hanging around his little brother.

When the invention looked clean and usable, Ace stuffed it in his tool box and climbed the cellar stairs. Looking around to make sure nobody was walking about, he unlatched the gate where they kept their animals. Slowly one by one the animals escaped, thinking it were feeding time until he shooed them away. The next to come out was their horse and goat.

Ace led Thousand Sunny to their wagon and hitched him up, he tied the horse to the fence and went back to the cellar to pack up everything he needed. Once that was done he proceeded to pack up the things inside their cottage, things that they really needed. Not so much clothes, the worn out ones, since they'd probably never need to be seen in such raggedy things when Aces invention was bought.

The wagon was full, save for a space where Luffy could lay down and sleep. That reminded Ace, he had to wake Luffy and try to quietly bring him down. They lived a few meters away from the village, but that didn't stop Luffys loud voice from reaching them.

Thankfully Luffy complied and snuggled into his older brother, relishing in the warmth of being rocked back to sleep when his brother walked to the wagon. He didn't even wake up when he was laid on the flatbed with straw and a blanket.

Being reminded once again Ace ran back into the cottage for Luffys strawhat he was given a few days ago, then he finally set his plans into motion and poured oil all over the house. Reaching for his gauntlet he snagged before coming back into the house, he rolled his wrist and faced his palm at the trail of oil.

Slowly, flames licked their way across the floor of the house. Ace didn't want to wait for help this time and made a mad dash for Thousand Sunny, he untied the animal then mounted it. With one finally look at the fresh smoke billowing out of an open window somewhere, Ace kicked his heels on the horse to get it to move. There was no more looking back, not when danger lurked in this village.

"Come on Sunny, faster!"

The horse let out a loud gruff and trotted faster to the forest trail that led out of east blue village, towards the North Blue castle ruins. He would have to travel through that area just the make it to where Edward lived. Hopefully Bellamy wouldn't catch onto them.

"Where are we going?"

"Why is all of our stuff in here?"

Luffy couldn't stop with the questions, he kept asking about everything. Why they left, when they would reach their destination, how will they buy food when they had absolutely no Beri at all. Luffy ate the food as soon as he woke up, that was yesterday.

"I don't know Lu, we just need to keep moving, we'll be in a village soon."

Luffy pouted but remained silent.

It had been a whole day since they left east blue, and another 3 days until they would reach whitebeard estate. Hopefully nothing would deter their schedule.

Crack.

Ace slowed the horse down, feeling the wagon wobble a bit on the dirt road. So much for hoping. The wheel was cracked where the bolt held it onto the wagons body. He could fix it but there was no guarantee it would last much longer seeing as the crack was deep and lengthy.

"Fuck, just fucking great."

Ace pulled over at the crossroads they arrived at. He hopped off of Sunny and walked over to the wagon to assess the damage further, the outcome was not pretty.

"Hey Ace, is it broken?"

"Yup."

A moment of silence fell. Ace was brooding, angry at the fact that he failed to remeber that the wagon needed repairs months ago. He had all summer to do it, but it was now fall, curse his reluctance to do such an easy task.

"Hey Ace."

"Hmm?"

"I'm hungry."

Letting out a long groan, the older man ran hands through his dark locks and paced back and forth.

"I told you not to eat all the food!"

That wasn't what Ace was worried about, he was mostly worried about Bellamy catching up to him. He knew for a fact that the crazed hunter would by now catch onto his last minute plan. He was known to get what he wanted, most of his ploys were done by brute force. People went messing when Bellamy was involved, but they couldn't do a thing since he was a good friend of Donquixote Doflamingo. A very shady aristocrat that was apart of the royal family, of course he was banished from the castle years ago by his own brother Rocinante. Ace didn't know the whole ordeal of what went down, he just knew.

Speaking of royalties and castles, they weren't that far from the abandoned palace. He didn't know how it got abandoned either, the place just suddenly fell into ruin many years ago. He remembers the day, but not the reason.

"Let's go to the old castle and see if we can find a wheel. Or a new wagon."

Luffys face brightened up, the mention of an adventure always made him happy.

"Okay!"

Ace took the hitch off of Sunny, then hauled it over to a deep brush off of the road. They'd come back for their things later, hopefully with a new wheel or wagon in tow. He covered the wagon with branches he broke from birch trees then approved of his work.

"To the castle then."


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2

Dead fire and wet wood smoldered out of the rubble where the boys house once stood. A charred reminder that Bellamy failed, and that didn't sit well with him at all.

Several people gathered a distance away, all shocked and confused at the sight. Some gossiped while others just stared on, this lasted until the noon bell rang through the now silent village.

"I don't know if Ace is smart, or really stupid."

Eustass, who was standing beside him gave him a bewildered look.

"They could be dead for all we know."

Bellamy chuckled, the sound made a few villagers flinch away. Thinking he'd finally gone completely insane.

"You idiot!" He laughed outright and patted Eustass' shoulder. '"Bring the hounds, we're going on a hunt."

Eustass grimaced at his "friend" but obliged anyways, it's not like he had orders to fill in this week. He could also leave the work to his apprentice Bartolomeo. The kid knew the forge almost as well he does.

"Fine." He grunted out and stalked away to Bellamys cabin that laid in the forest going towards the west.

Bellamy stayed at the sight of the "accident" carefully examining it for clues. There was nothing for the human eye to see, but he knew that if they did run, then the hounds wouldn't fail him.

Once the hounds found their trail, he'd gather his men and set out for Luffy. There's no way he would ever let that kid leave him, he wanted him and he always got what he wanted. Ace could burn properly like he should've with this house, unless Luffy begged prettily for him.

Robin, the librarian, was amongst the crowd of people. She felt, off, about the whole situation. She couldn't put her finger on what it was exactly, but she knew this was no accident. Squinting a bit at the scene, she noticed a familiar figure standing right beside the ruined house.

It was Bellmay.

Her stomach churned, maybe he had something to do with this. Bad rumors came with his name, so did funerals and search parties, the villagers were just too dense to notice that.

"Hmm." Cupping her own chin, she crossed her arm and went back to her work place. There was no way Ace died with Luffy in that fire, not when Thousand Sunny was missing.

What could've made her best customers run away? Or, were they robbed and killed? No. Ace wouldn't allow that to happen, they may have been reckless, but Ace was quiet the guardian of his brother.

Giving up on the thought for now, she glanced back in time to see Eustass with 3 of Bellamys bloodhounds.

How, odd.

The walk to the castle was most definitely a workout. It must've been about 5 miles away from the crossroads. He shouldn't have let Sunny prance ahead of them, that damn horse would've made it easier to get there.

The hours seemed to drag on with Luffy complaining about his grumbling stomach every 15 minutes. He knew he couldn't say anything, the girl was reaching her red moon cycle. Yes, he kept watch of it. If he said anything to Luffy, he'd be upset and most likely throw a fit.

"Ace! Look! I can see the point of the castle!"

Luffy pointed excitedly at the spire then wasted no time in sprinting off with a happy laughter.

He shouted for Ace to hurry but wouldn't slow down for the older to catch up. Typical Luffy and his shenanigans.

It took another few minutes for them to reach the gates, from the size of the grounds, it would take another few just to reach the front door. The gate looked rusted, like it had been standing for over a thousand years. If he tried hard enough, maybe he could break it off the hinges.

Ace looked around the outside of the gates and spotted Thousand Sunny resting in some shade. Prissy, Ace thought.

A horrible screech then interrupted his thoughts and nearly made his ears bleed.

"Ow! The fuck Luffy warn me first!"

Luffy stuck his tongue out and laughed while pushing the gate wide open.

"This place is creepy, do you think there's ghosts here?! That'd be so cool!"

"Oooo look Ace! There's a huge lake over there! You think fishes live there?"

"We only came here for one thing and that's a wheel kiddo, come on and quit messing around."

Luffy pouted but followed after Ace. Unbeknownst to the audience following them.

"Shhh, do you see this?"

"It's been so many years since I've seen a human."

"What do you think they're doing here?"

"Exploring?

"You think master Law will be back soon?"

"He's not going to like this."

"You wussy, maybe this is our chance."

"What do you mean?"

Two tiny figures talked back and forth while standing on the edge of the wall, they peered at the two brothers occasionally. It had been years since they met with company that wasn't there own, considering the state they were in it wasn't surprising at all.

"Sh!" Ace placed a finger to his lips and made Luffy stand behind him.

"What's wro-"

"I heard talking."

"Ohhh you think it's the ghosts?! Here ghostie ghostie ghostie- ow!"

Ace smacked Luffy on the back of the head.

"We're not alone."

Luffy pouted, rubbing the sore spot on his head. He felt emotional about it until he seen a weird bird statue flailing about.

Walking away from Ace who was surveying their surroundings, he squatted down to reach them.

"I told you to shhhh! Now look they heard us!" The bird statue whispered shouted to a clock looking contraption.

"You weren't being exactly quiet too!"

Luffy watched as they argued back and forth, eventually Ace joined in to. They were both bewildered but more amazed at the objects.

"Hey, do you guys know where we can find a wheel?" Luffy asked with complete indifference.

The bird statue and clock turned around, freezing in place. If they were human like before then they'd most definitely be sweating bullets.

Ace stared on, trying to wrap his head around this and only came up with the conclusion that they were inventions of some kind. He picked up the bird statue, making it squawk in surprise.

"Put me down! Nami help me!"

The clock remained silent, resuming it's position as a clock.

"These are unreal!" Ace said as he turned the bird over to find an opening. To his surprise there was nothing, it was just a regular statue, well, almost.

"What are you?" Ace asked with genuine curiosity.

The bird flailed, dry heaving as it couldn't vomit.

"Put me down!"

Ace finally complied, setting it down and then standing up.

"Come on Lu, let's look over there for a wheel."

"Kay!"

The two brothers walked off, not even shaken up at the whole ordeal. Nami, the clock, looked to her companion whom was hunched over, wing to his chest while taking deep breaths. They were the only ones shocked it seemed.

Nami looked at the brothers and decided to join them, they seemed rather interesting.

"Hey, wait up!"

"Nami! Wait!"

"Hurry up Penguin!"

"So, you're a bird, and you're a clock?"

Luffy scratched his black locks and hummed. Nothing went though his head except the fact that both of them were cool.

"So what are you? Enchanted objects or something?" Ace piqued up from the wagon he was currently removing a wheel from. Thankfully, Nami and Penguin, brought him to the old horse shed in the far side of the castle.

"H-how did you know?" Nami asked with dread.

Ace shrugged, still busying himself with the bolts on the wheel.

"Lucky guess."

Nami gawked at the sheer stupidity of the boys. How could they just take this reveal in stride and not freak out?

"You're not the least bit concerned that we're objects? You know, not human?" Penguin asked.

Luffy and Ace looked at them, silent for awhile until it clicked.

"You're alive?!" Both brothers shouted in unison.

Nami and Penguin didn't say anything but both thought about how slow they were.

"There!"

Ace removed the wheel from its post and put his arm through the loop. He patted his little brothers shoulder and motioned them back to where they came from.

"Well, we got what we came for. We should head back now before night falls and makes it harder to see."

Luffy was about to say his goodbyes when a loud thud came from behind them.

A hoarse voice croaked out, scratchy and deep with a hint of a growl at the end.

"Leaving so soon after stealing from my castle grounds?"

Ace slowly turned his head, he was met with a broad hairy chest. He had to peer his head to see their face, his stomach dropped at the sight. Staring him down was a pair of black and golden eyes, slits narrowing in on him. There was black circles marring white flesh. Fangs poking out of black lips as huge circular horns protruded out of its temples. A beast stood before them, and he was not pleased.


	3. Chapter 3

Now, many people would be freaked out by the mere mention of a monster in its own right. They'd most likely drop dead of a heart attack at the sight of one. Luffy wasn't one of those mentioned people.

It wasn't with fear or curiosity that she looked at the beast with, it was purely just in awe. She'd never seen or heard of such a creature like this. He was intimidating in sheer height alone, his eyes cold and calculating. His lips were pulled in a frown, sharp fangs poking out from underneath a black upperlip. Strange markings that decorated his exposed skin, reminded her of tattoos she had seen a few of Shanks' crew bare.

Most of them were hidden beneath tuffs of hair, the hair stemming up from legs that looked similar to that of a goat. There were no hooves, just talon like claws that erupted from something. The upper portion of this beast was especially cool to Luffy. His horns were a magnificent black, stretching and circling high around his head like a crown. His voice was rough too, almost sounding forced to be that scratchy.

"Are you only now feeling the weight of your actions?"

Ace was frozen for a while, so were the two enchanted beings behind them. Ace tried to come up with something, anything in his mind to at least speak. Then before he could think properly, he threw the wheel at the beast and yanked Luffy over his shoulders and ran.

He heard the loud roar of anger, and the shouting of Nami and Penguin what he didn't hear was Luffy telling him to stop because the wheel hit the beast square in the jaw.

Ace ran the distance from the shed to the courtyard, but was caught on a broken part of the decorative walls that made up the yard. He turned to look at his sister whom was rising to her feet, brushing off her breeches while doing so.

The beast was fast to reach them and was merciless when he kicked Ace across the stone pathway.

"Stop!" Luffy cried out, putting herself between the beast and Ace without so much as thinking about the consequences.

The beast halted its actions when the faint smell of something coppery hit his nostrils. He faltered in his steps, something unlike him, and stared down at the boy- no girl- in front of him with bewilderment.

There was no distinct scent of fear on her, now that he focused better, neither was there any on Ace. Seemingly his reckless action was for her sake rather than his own. From the look of things, she didn't need it.

"Don't hurt him, you!" She pointed at Ace "Don't you ever do that again!"

Ace grumble something that the beast didn't care to hear. He was only interested in this stupidly courageous woman before him.

"The wheel."

The beast furrowed his brows, forgetting about the thing that caused all of this.

"How much for the wheel?"

"What?" His voice broke, coming back to its original pitch.

This girl was ridiculous, pitching a barter for the wheel now instead of her own life. Any sane person would be fleeing in terror or begging to be set free.

"For trespassing and attempting to steal from me would cost a fortune girl."

Luffy looked back at Ace who was just getting to his feet, clutching his side where the beast had hit him. There was an angry red scratch visible from the tear in his shirt, luckily no blood.

"We'll pay!"

"Luffy!" Her brother came to her side, pulling her shoulder but she instantly brushed it off.

"We don't have the money now but we can get it."

"How do you intend to do that." He commanded, getting over the initial shock of her brave front.

"Ace, he's got a super cool glove that shoots fire, you can have it."

"I'd have no use for it."

Luffy looked at Ace, thinking really hard but coming up short, thinking wasn't her strong suit.

Ace took her look for help and nodded.

"I can sell it, and come back to pay for it."

The beast hummed, thinking it over and came to a quick conclusion. This might just work in his favor.

"Alright, you can go, but she stays until you can pay."

Ace grimaced at the thought of leaving Luffy behind but his rational side knew that he'd want something like this if it meant the person would come back. But he couldn't just leave Luffy with this beast either.

"What if we try to escape now?" It was a stupid question he knew that, but he needed a valid reason to leave.

"I'd kill you both, seeing as you attacked me first."

A smirk appeared on the beasts smug face, he knew that Ace wasn't dumb enough to get himself in danger, maybe the girl too but people loved to be alive.

"Fine. But if you lay a single finger on her I'll kill you myself."

"I may be a beast, but I'm not a monster."

Ace took that to heart and looked at Luffy. She seemed perfectly okay, unafraid of anything. Which was the norm for her.

"It's only fair Ace, sell the cool glove for lots of belli and then come get me so we could eat lots of meat after!" Luffy rubbed her tummy and chuckled at the thought of being full. Speaking of eating.

"Hey beast dude, you got any food?"

The beast and Ace looked at each other, Ace smirking now while the beast felt a sense of dread.

"You better feed her, put it on my tab for when I get back!"

From a mission, to a fight, then a deal, now friendly goodbyes. The beast felt deafeated by what had just transpired between these two siblings and even more so at how the boyish girl was looking at him with a blank stare. He couldn't get an exact read on what she was thinking at all and it frightened him more.

"I'm hungry! C'mon let's go eat!"

She said goodbye to her brother and marched towards the castle, walking in a silly way while humming about food. Then she hunched over and grabbed her stomach.

"Oww, my stomach hurts!"

The beast smelt her blood, more so now that she was actively bleeding out of her, womanhood.

"M-master L-l-law?" Penguin asked, catching up to the trio while they came up with a deal. Nami right by his side.

"Get Empirio to, make a pad." The words felt foreign in his mouth, yet he couldn't exactly let the girl wander his home and make a mess.

"Prepare a bath as well, she smells." His subjects looked at each other and grinned when Law followed after the girl.

He was still processing what happened and walked in a daze behind the girl. She had willingly let herself become a sort of prisoner so he brother could leave, who knows if he'll come back, and strode to his home with the confidence of a madman. Ace really didn't seem that worried either, instead he seemed happy when he realized that she'd be staying as a guest? He didn't know anymore, but when she asked for food and his smile shone, it could only spell trouble for him.

"The lesser known route huh, I've got to hand it to my dear brother in law. He knows how to run." Bellamy laughed.

Eustass just glanced at him and said nothing, beside them the town crier, Usopp, laughed nervously with him. Smoker, the deputy of the town just puffed on his cigars and ignored them all.

Somehow they had managed a ragtag team of people who were stupid enough to volunteer for this escapade. Smokers reason was to bring Ace to justice for burning east blue village property and fraudulent death. Usopp sas bullied by Bellamy, Eustass felt a little bit of pity for the boy, he knew how that was. The other men were not worth mentioning since they were simpletons who followed the insanity incarnate.

Bellamy had said that the day before the incident, he managed to woo Luffy and the boy agreed, big brother Ace didn't and threatened Bellamy, then he pulls this stunt and kidnaps his 'bride' to be. Eustass could not set him straight and tell the truth, the hyena of a man knew deep dirt that could cost him his business and pride.

"Wherever they run, we'll catch them. And if Ace puts up a fight then I'd be glad to bury him on the spot. Always knew the kid was trouble." Smoker actually spoke up, taking a big puff and blowing it back out towards Usopps way. The boy coughed at the pungent smell and waved it away.

"Y-yeah! You handle the guy and I'll be your b-backup!" Usopp tried to appear confident but failed by the way his teeth audibly chattered.

"Ace isn't someone you want to take lightly captain, he used to be known as a spit fire way back in his soldier years. You know before the other brother disappeared." Bellamy spoke with a grin.

"You were right to bring these men, you may be a fast shot but you're no sniper." Eustass quipped from his side. Bellamy clenched his jaw but remained silent at that. The look he gave Eustass however got the red head to shut up as well.

The hounds barked loudly, sniffing around the crossroads they reached. One dog dug at where the cart was stashed while the other two pointed in different directions.

One pointed left while the other looked straight ahead.

"What do we now?" One of the men asked from the back.

Bellamy frowned, but turned his horse around to talk directly to the group.

"Eustass, you take the kid Usopp and a hound and go left. The rest of you follow me."

"What are you doing?! What if they turned left!" Eustass pulled on the reins of his own horse when the creature sensed it's riders distress.

"The old Donquixote castle ruins are there. They might have split up and brother dearly used himself as bait. You never know" Bellamy whispered to him.

Eustass grit his teeth and sucked in a deep breath through his nose to calm his rising anger. The obsession this man held with Luffy, a young boy, was sickening. Eustass couldn't put him in his place even if the guy didn't have dirt on him, he had connections with Doflamingo. Nobody messes with Doflamingo.

"Alright" he grunted out and motioned for Usopp to follow. The boy just let out a pathetic squeak but did as he was told.

Eustass didn't spare Bellamy another glance as he followed the bloodhound towards the castle. He just hoped Luffy wasn't there, and if he was then maybe Eustass could get Usopp to keep his mouth shut.


End file.
